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Currency Changes Won't Hurt
China Airlines' Jet Purchases

China Airlines' aircraft purchases won't be affected by the recent currency fluctuations in Taiwan, according to a spokesman for the Taipei-based carrier.

Hamilton Liu, a CAL spokesman, said the airline may actually save money on jet costs in current U.S. dollar terms because it had hedged exchange rates in anticipation of the purchase. "We earned something from the purchase of aircraft because our finance department had arranged to buy U.S. dollars at lower [exchange] rates to hedge this purchase," Mr. Liu said.

CAL took delivery of one
Boeing
747-400 jet last month and is slated to buy six more over the coming year, including two that will arrive in December. The airline has another 15 737-800 planes scheduled for delivery by 2003, including eight that will arrive in 1998.

For the 737 order, the company has also issued bonds to help finance the purchase. "A fall in exchange rates has some influence on that, but it's not so drastic for us," he said. "The currency situation has some influence on us, but so far we don't expect it to delay deliveries in any way."